After a hiatus of almost 19 years, Sicily's Mount Etna has once more become extremely active. The tallest and most active volcano in Europe, Etna is spewing lava for the 17th time this year. Before its first eruption this year, Etna had had no major eruption since 1992. The latest eruption has closed off the airport in nearby Catania, Sicily's second-largest city.

by Alicia Cerretani
The developments in the Arctic are a near perfect example of what Lyndon LaRouche, the foremost economic forecaster on the planet means, when he says that in order to survive, our species must continue to rise to higher and higher platforms of economic productivity. And the Arctic is a perfect example.

Little understood galactic and sub-sea activities continue to pose threats to millions around the world. On Oct. 8, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck northeast of the capital of the Pacific island nation of Tonga, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was located 137 miles east-northeast of Nuku'Alofa at a depth of 12.2 miles, the survey said.

In an interview today in her Cape Town office, South African Science and Technology Minister, Naledi Pandor, a member of the Executive Committee of the ruling African National Congress, a former Parliamentarian and Minister of Education, summarized the responsibilities that her Ministry has for space, and a broad range of technology areas.

In an interview with Executive Intelligence Review in Capetown, South Africa, on October 5, Anatoli Perminov, the former head of the Russian Space Agency, Roskosmos, outlined a program using presently available technology for predicting natural disasters. "I am co-chair of the committee of the Global International Monitoring System (the 'system of systems')," Perminov said.

"Before finding this phenomenon, I did not think earthquakes could be predicted at all," Hokkaido University geophysicist Kosuke Heki told OurAmazingPlanet. "Now I think large earthquakes are predictable."

Speaking at the conference of the International Astronautical Federation in Cape Town, South Africa, Vladimir Popovkin, the head of the Russian Roskosmos Space Agency, said that an inspection of rockets similar to the one that caused the crash of the Progress cargo ship recently had found no production faults. This opens the way for renewed launches to the station.

The House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, headed by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), cancelled all funding in FY2012 for the Webb Space Telescope in July. But a Senate subcommittee headed by Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, where the bulk of the work on the Webb Telescope takes place, is trying to provide $530 million for the Webb, which is named after John F.